And so we return to Barb’s brother’s mother-in-law, Aunt Beezy, and her tasty, TASTY soda bread.
I’ve made it kinda as is, with raisins and dried cherries – nice – and made a version with freshly frozen blueberries – on the theory that blueberries frozen solid will not turn the batter into a purple mush when mixing – also nice, and it sort of worked, but the bread came out kinda goopy in spots. 
Now, with the goal of having some tasty baked goods to share at a family gathering, I come back to the soda bread, but this time – I’ve tossed the blueberries with a bit of honey and baked ’em for two hours in a slow oven to dry them out before adding them to the bread.
The soda bread itself is easy-peasey to make – just flour, sugar, salt, soda, baking powder, buttermilk, eggs, and a bit of butter – and you really could add whatever you like as a bit of an addition: cinnamon, nuts, jalapeño – you are only limited by the contents of your larder.
INGREDIENTS
•3 cups flour
•2/3 cup sugar
•1 tsp baking powder
•1 tsp baking soda
•1 tsp salt
•1-1/2 cup total raisins, dried cherries, or any other addition you like
•2 tsp melted butter
•2 eggs, beaten
•1-3/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350º.
Whisk the flour together in a large bowl with the sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. A teaspoon of ground cinnamon might could be nice here, too.
Add whatever dried fruit or stuff you plan on using and stir well to coat with the flour mixture.
Lightly beat the eggs together with the melted butter and the buttermilk, then stir into the flour and fruit mixture, just until everything is mixed together.
Turn into a well greased loaf pan and bake for fifty to sixty minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan, then tip out and serve as you will – a bit of butter or a schmear of cream cheese is a very good thing.
Oh, and those dried blueberries?
Tune in tomorrow…